Overview and
overall impression
When I first visited Morocco in March 1996 I was negatively impressed
by the high level
of harassment (western) tourist travelling across the country were
subject to. Everywhere locals used to bother tourists, trying to sell
them goods and services.

It seems that the level of harassment has now gone down substantially.
It is almost possible to walk around
undisturbed in Marrakech and other places I visited for instance. It's
now even possible to walk into a
shop without being locked into an endless conversation with a
salesperson.

Morocco is and remains a beautiful country, with a strong cultural and
historical heritage and breathtaking sceneries.

Marrakech is a bit overrated in my opinion. There is a lack of
breathtaking sights and you could see the major sights all in one day
or maximum two. The souks may be interesting, if you are into
shopping and the Djemma el-Fna square is very cool at night.

Fes instead is the most interesting of all Moroccan cities I have seen,
in terms of historical sights and culture.

As a former French colony, Morocco is a francophone country, with
French
being widely spoken everywhere. During this trip I communicated in
French with almost everybody. English is spoken, but by far not as
widely as French.

Pre-departure
plan
I leave home with an approximate idea of which places I will visit, but
without a precise plan. This is the approximate schedule I define
before leaving:

Feb 24

Munich-Marrakech via London

Feb 25

Marrakech

Feb 26

Marrakesch - Merzouga

Feb 27

Merzouga

Feb 28

Merzouga - Fez

Mar 1

Fez

Mar 2

Meknes, Volubilis

Mar 3

Fez-Marrakech

Mar 4

Marrakech - Munich via London

Costs
I stayed in mid-range hotels spending between 220 and 400 dirham/night
(20-36 Euro). Food and meals are inexpensive - you can have good meals
for less than 50 dirham. The biggest cost component of this trip was
transportation. The flight from Munich to Marrakech with BA cost 447
Euro, the car with driver cost a total of 520 Euro for six days (30
Euro/day for
the car, 20 Euro/day for the driver, 120 Euro for the petrol, 100 Euro
tip for the driver). If you use buses to get around in Morocco, you
will spend much less.

ATMs are everywhere, so that you can easily get cash with a
Cirrus/Maestro ATM card. The exchange rate of the money changers is not
that bad either. You won't need traveller cheques.

Mobile
phones and prepaid cards
In Marrakech I bought a GSM prepaid card of Maroc Telecom for 50
dirham, which included 20 dirham of airtime. I then bought an
additional 200 dirham of airtime. On that day there was a promotion,
which doubled the airtime, so I ended up with 440 dirham of airtime. It
is possible that these promotions are always available.
I estimated that
calls to Europe cost around 10 dirham/minute, calls to Malaysia around
20 dirham/minute (and effectively the half, since my airtime was
doubled on the first day). With Maroc Telecom I had good coverage in
all places which I visited during this trip.

Weather
Sunny, blue skies for the whole week spent in Morocco. It was fresh in
the evenings and mornings, so that you had to wear a long sleeves shirt
or sweater, and warm enough in the middle of the day to walk around
just with a T-shirt. It was not warmer in the desert as I had expected.
On the last day of the trip it became markedly warmer, so that you
could walk around in the evening in Marrakech with just a T-shirt.

Health /
Vaccinations
None required for Morocco.

VISA / Entry
requirements
A VISA on arrival can be obtained by citizens of most delevoped
countries.

Security
No problems here, although I didn't walk in the medinas after dark,
which you should
not do according to Mohammed, my driver. Pickpocketing may be an issue,
although I didn't hear anything about that. The Moroccans I met were
all honest.

Getting
aroundThere are several options available, depending on
the time you have and on your budget. Buses are by far the cheapest
options, followed by shared taxis (old Mercedes cars, also known as Grand Taxis).

For this trip, since my time was limited, I initially checked whether
it was feasible to cover the large distances by plane. The problem is
that most internal flights transit through Casablanca and I could not
find a
suitable connection from Marrakech to Er Rachidia (which is the closest
airport to Merzouga) for instance. Doing the trip with buses instead
would have taken too much time and trains did not connect the places I
was planning to visit.

So in the end I opted for a rented car + driver. The car, a Fiat Palio
big enough for me and the driver, cost just 30 Euro/day (not including
fuel). The driver cost 20 Euro/day, for the fuel I spent a total of 120
Euro. I then gave a 100 Euro tip to the driver, because he did a very
good job and at 20 Euro/day (of which he probably pockets just 15 or
so) he would have made too little for so many hours of driving.

Having my own car was great, and it became possible to cover 1900 km in
six days and see all places I was planning to see.

It is possible to drive around Morocco without a driver, as except for
the big cities, there is little traffic in the streets. I used one,
because doing all the driving myself would have been very tiring and I
would have got lost in the cities.

I booked the car through this company: Atlas Marco Rando,
http://www.atlas-maroc.com/ . Here you can rent a small car for just 30
Euro/day. The car I used, a Fiat Palio, was in a good shape and had
just
18000 km.

I can recommend you my driver, Mohammed Houjja. You can contact him by
email at simo_laila1@hotmail.fr.
Mohammed is an excellent driver and very friendly and honest guy.